[By Chuck Almdale]
[NOTE: If maps, pictures and legends don’t display properly in your email, go to the blog. The interactive Google map within this posting works on the blogsite, if not in your email. There is a link at the bottom to the entire Mongol Empire & Rus’ series.]
Battle near Liegnitz (Wahlstatt) on 9th April 1241 (The Mongols under Orda defeat the Polish-German knights’ army under Duke Henry II of Silesia). “Great defeat of the Christians, which they suffered from the Tatars.” Copper engraving b.Matthäus Merian t.Eld. From: J.L.Gottfried, Historische Chronica, 1630, p.583; later colored. Source: PolishHistory: War of the Worlds at Legnica
The Fog of War History
The immediate aftermath of the battle of Legnica — which began and ended on 9 April, 1241 — comes in many versions, as do descriptions of who was actually there. Mongol leaders Orda, Baidar and Kadan were all there, but perhaps it was only one of the three, or maybe two; perhaps it was 10-year-old Kaidu fooling King Henry the Pious with a feigned retreat, and Kadan wasn’t even in Poland but far to the south in Transylvania. Sometimes the Mongols have 100,000 men, sometimes 5,000; the Polish forces range from 40,000 to 3,000. The Teutonic Knights were there, as were the Hospitallers, or perhaps they weren’t. The Knights Templar contingent were slain in battle, all 500 of them, or was it 70-90 knights, or perhaps it was nine knights, three sergeants and 500 peasants armed with hand tools. About all that everyone does agree on is that the Mongols won and it was a terrific defeat for the Poles.
Wenceslaus (Václav) I of Bohemia in the Codex Gelnhausen (early 15th century). Source: Wikipedia – Wenceslaus I
Afterwards — when Wenceslaus I (the one-eyed) of Bohemia, who was only one day away with 50,000 troops or perhaps it was only 5,000 — heard of the defeat, he:
… fell back to protect Bohemia. He gathered reinforcements from Thuringia and Saxony along the way, before taking refuge in Bohemia’s mountainous countries whose terrain would reduce the mobility of the Mongolian cavalry. When a Mongol vanguard assaulted Kłodzko, the Bohemian cavalry easily defeated them in the mountain passes.
— Wikipedia – Wenceslaus I of Bohemia
Saxony (Meissen) today: Albrechtsburg Castle with the spires of Meissen Cathedral behind it. Photo: July 2005 by Miala.
Source: Wikipedia – Electorate of Saxony
Saxony and Thuringia were German states, respectively 110 miles and 225 miles west of Legnica which was another 75 miles west of Kłodzko, and it had taken several days for Wenceslaus to march from Prague to within a day’s ride away from the battle site. This makes one wonder exactly how he turned his army around, then gathered forces from these two states and returned to Bohemia before the Mongols arrived. Perhaps his route from Bohemia to Legnica did not go past Kłodzko but went northwest through the mountains towards Dresden [Saxony, see map below], then turned eastward towards Legnica. When he turned around to return to Bohemia, he stopped off at Saxony and Thuringia, then went back through the mountains. Whatever the sequence of events, it seems that the Mongols left the vicinity of Legnica, rode east through Lower and Upper Silesia and attempted to pass through the mountains into Bohemia, perhaps near Kłodzko (discussed below), trying to follow the most direct route southward to Hungary.
Interactive Google MyMap. Important locations of Winter-Spring 1241 CE. Click on any marker or line for description. If map doesn’t display properly in your email, go to the blog.
Karlštejn Castle, Prague. In 1422 the Hussites besieged this castle, using catapults to hurl dead bodies and 2,000 carriage-loads of animal dung over the ramparts. In this early example of biological warfare, they were successful in spreading infection among the besieged.
Source: Butterfield & Robinson – Castle Tour Czech
Bohemia’s Defense
According to this site, when Wenceslaus’ Bohemian forces repelled their advance, the Mongols withdrew to the town of Othmachau which lay eastward in the direction of Opole. Failing another vanguard advance towards Kłodzko, they turned east towards Racibórz, a distance of 50 miles, then south towards Ostrava, another 20 miles, where they entered the broad valley known as the Moravian Gate.
Czechia, including Bohemia (west) and Moravia (east). The narrow white/black-striped strip in the east is the Moravian Gate.
Source: Wikipedia – Moravian Gate
The Moravian Gate is a geomorphological depression between the Carpathian Mountains to the east and the Sudeten Mountains to the west, and is the division between two major watersheds. The upper reaches of the Oder River drains to the north and into the Baltic Sea, while to the south the Bečva River drains southward to the Morava River which flows southward to the Danube River. The “gate” is about 40 miles (65 km) long and is bordered on the north by the confluence of the Olza and Oder rivers, 11 miles southeast of Racibórz. The crest between the two watersheds is 22 miles east of Olmuetz at 1,020 ft. Because of this low altitude and easy terrain it has for millennia been used for traveling between Polish and Czech lands, the Baltic and the Danube, Scandinavia and Greece.
Moravian Gate: View of Bernartice nad Odrou and Hůrka from Starý Jičín Castle near Nový Jičín, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czechia.
Source: Wikipedia – Moravian Gate
The Mongols then tried to take the town of Olmuetz [Olomouc], but again Wenceslaus, this time with the aid of Austrian Babenbergs, repulsed the raid and a Mongol “commander” was killed. However, as Olmuetz is in Moravia at the southern end of the Moravian Gate, any attack there would more likely follow the Mongols passage southward from Ostrava through the “Gate.” Bohemia was one of the few eastern European kingdoms and duchies that were not pillaged by the Mongols. Wenceslaus was so proud of his defensive maneuvers that he notified Holy Roman Emperor Frederik II of his “victorious defense.” According to another site, at some point Wenceslaus — in letters to the princes of Germany informing them of the Mongols’ progress — wrote that the Mongols “were moving at a pace of 40 miles (64 km) per day away from the Bohemian border.” In fact, for this first Mongol invasion of Europe, Bohemia was a simply a place to get through or around as quickly as possible in order to continue the conquest of Hungary. The Mongols could now follow the Morava River for a few miles, then head southeast towards the Hungarian battle site, or continue along the river until it reached the Danube near Bratislava, east of Vienna.
Northern arc of Carpathians Mountains. Moravian Gate (dark green lines) at lower right, Ostrava at NE end, Olomouc at SW end . Google map snip.
Contradicting some of the above is the following from this site:
The Mongols did not advance far into the Holy Roman Empire and there was no major clash of arms on its territory. Rather, the army that had invaded Poland, after harassing eastern Germany, crossed the March of Moravia in April–May 1241 to rejoin the army that had invaded Hungary. During their transit, they laid waste the Moravian countryside but avoided strongholds. King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia was joined by some German princes, but he monitored the Mongols in Moravia without seeking battle.
Our next installment will begin a look at the Mongols’ journey through Moravia and the numerous myths that sprang up as a result.
Entire Mongol Empire & Rus’ Series: Click Here
First Installment: Why didn’t the Mongols Conquer Europe in the 13th Century?
Previous Installment: The Battle of Legnica || Mongol Empire LXXIX
Next Installment: Mongols in Moravia || Mongol Empire LXXXI
This Installment: Legnica to Moravia || Mongol Empire LXXX
Sources
HistoryNet – Mongol Invasions, Battle of Liegnitz
Forging the Past: Facts and Myths Behind the Mongol Invasion of Moravia in 1241; Somer, Tomáš; Golden Horde Review 2018.6(2), pages 238-251. tomas.somer@upol.cz. of Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic. Link to free PDF file.
PodBay – Legnica and Mohi
PolishHistory – War of the Worlds at Legnica
ThoughtCo – Legnica, Battle of
Wikipedia – Bohemia & Moravia – Europe, Mongol Invasion of
Wikipedia – Carpathian Mountains
Wikipedia – Europe, Mongol Invasion of
Wikipedia – Holy Roman Empire, Mongol Incursions into
Wikipedia – Hungary, First Mongol Invasion of
Wikipedia – Kłodzko
Wikipedia – Legnica, Battle of
Wikipedia – Legnica History
Wikipedia – Mongol Invasions and Conquests
Wikipedia – Moravian Gate
Wikipedia – Poland, First Mongol Invasion Background
Wikipedia – Poland, First Mongol Invasion of
Wikipedia – Poland, First Mongol Invasion Route
Wikipedia – Wenceslaus I of Bohemia
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